The other day I found myself with a bit of a nail polish emergency. I know, I know, compared to -- oh everything in life! -- a nail polish emergency is not a big deal. However! An emergency it still was, one that I ingeniously solved with the help of my new favorite manicure tool: Sephora by O.P.I. Trend Tips Nail Lacquer Strips.
Ok, so are you curious about my "emergency"?
Last Saturday, I had to attend an important work event during Fashion Week in NYC. I live out in the 'burbs, so the PR company hosting the event had arranged for a car service to pick me up in the morning ... woohoo!! (This is seriously one of my favorite treats in life). I set my alarm early because I not only had to get gussied up, but I had to finish some work before I could leave. Once the alarm went off, I made some coffee and headed upstairs to my home office, planning to quickly knock out a couple of blog posts AND do a quick manicure because my nails were a total mess. Like, a have the rats been chewing on your fingers? kind of mess. Like, a too embarrassing to be seen with at an event filled with way cooler than me fashion people kind of mess.
But when I reached for my nail polish remover, what did I find? AN EMPTY BOTTLE! Oh yes! Bone dry, in fact! Thanks to my 10-year-old daughter, who must have used the last drop and put the empty bottle back in the nail polish bin, instead of informing me of this important development!
AURGH! I definitely did not have time to run to the store, so I figured I would just have to suffer the mortal embarrassment of showing up to the event with my tacky, trashy nails. I've suffered worse.
BUT! Just as I was about to run out the door (work done, hair blown dry, and high heels stuffed in my bag), I had a brainwave. Why not try those Sephora by OPI nail lacquer thingies I had stashed away? I grabbed the package on my way out, thinking I could give it a whirl on my way to the city.
IT TOTALLY WORKED!! And I have photographic evidence!
Here's a "BEFORE" shot I snapped of lap in the car, so you can see my terrible, half chewed off manicure:
Here's a very blurry "action" shot of me putting on the strips right over my old nail polish:
Here's an "almost done!" shot:
And the final product:
Wow, right? The whole thing took me about 25 minutes, and this is in the back of a moving car, with interruptions for texts and giving the driver directions. My final manicure was not perfect, obviously, because I didn't have time to do it really carefully and, uh yeah, I didn't even take off the old polish: Total manicure "DON'T." However, it looked damn good, if you didn't get out a magnifying glass and peer at it too closely, and I literally got complements on it all day!
This particular "Mod" design I used doens't seem to be available on Sephora.com right now, but there are a bunch of cute ones, and they're on sale for $6!
What amazed me even more is that the manicure lasted for a while -- it didn't chip at all for several days, and I think it would have lasted a lot longer if I had started with a clean nails. Really awesome, and I highly recommend this product! Here are three cute designs available now:
"Gold and purple ombre", "birds" and "floral" Sephora by O.P.I Trend Tips ($6 each at Sephora.com)
Have you ever tried nail polish strips?
Images via April Daniels Hussar and Sephora.com